A lot of ranchers aren’t regular church goers, but the majority are spiritually-minded people. They spend their lives caring for God’s creatures, and our planet, so the evidence of a Higher Power is front and center in their daily routines. Still, their spiritual walk is often expressed in unique or humorous ways. One of my sons maintains that God doesn’t waste wisdom on the young.
One morning when we were riding out to move cows and young calves—always a chancy thing because God doesn’t waste wisdom on young stock either—he turned to a neighbor who was helping out that day and said, “If you’re a praying man, you can start now.”
Recently, Donny Leddy wrote in Cattle Business Weekly encouraging all of us to pray for our troubled nation, our leaders, those on the front lines, and the ones who often go unrecognized, such as the waitress who fills your coffee when you gather with neighbors to solve the world problems down at the café.
Donny recalled a story about a gruff old rancher who asked the Lord to prop us up on our leanin’ side. When asked what that meant, the fellow mentioned that when an old barn gets to leaning you often see poles placed on the leaning side to prop it up. He figured that all of us get off center sometimes, and start leaning dangerously. By asking the Lord to prop him up on the leanin’ side, he indicated a willingness to repent and be strengthened until a renovation could happen.
I can’t speak for any of you, but there’s no doubt that I often need propping up. The propping isn’t usually an inside job. We need others to intervene for us, in prayer, with a phone call, visit, funny story, helping hand, or even a slap upside the head.
Sometimes we don’t even realize our tendency to lean until life begins to go wrong in all directions. Or we are too independent (common for people in agriculture) to ask for what we need, if we even know what that is. And that’s why all of us need to pay attention to our fellow travelers and let them know we recognize their discomfort. My daughter told a friend from Utah, whom we don’t see very often, that she could tell something was heavy on his heart and though she didn’t need to know the cause, she’d be praying for him.
This message is short, but there’s not really any more that needs saying on the subject. Just prop me up when you see me leanin’, and ask the God of your understanding to get involved. I’ll do the same for you.